Find the cheapest seats left for an opera, a sold-out-looking play and Hamilton with Meta's Muse checking the official sites
- Posted
- by Ben Patterson (PCWorld)
- Last checked
- Method:
- How we verify
Evidence: Article or interviewA newsletter, journalist or interview account of what happened.
Beginner-friendlyNo logins, payments or coding needed. Low risk: paste the prompt and you should get something useful.
Outcome
PCWorld's Ben Patterson, a Manhattan theatre lover who can't afford Broadway every night, used Muse to hunt for ticket bargains. Asked how much tickets to Verdi's Macbeth at the Met were, it first gave a general web answer, but when asked to check the official site it opened a browser and found a $71 seat (including a $10 service charge) for a weekday evening, logged in and teed it up for checkout. Patterson cancelled, then had it go through every remaining performance of a limited-run Off-Broadway play, finding which had seats and the best price, $92.41. For Hamilton in the next 30 days it found a rear-mezzanine seat for a Saturday matinee at $222 all-in. Patterson didn't buy this time.
Agent
Prompt Original prompt
Exact prompt as published in the source.
How much are tickets to Verdi’s Macbeth at the Met
Try this in:
Sends the Original prompt shown above. ChatGPT and Grok open with it filled in, and ChatGPT may send it straight away. Gemini opens empty, so we copy the prompt for you to paste. Every button also copies it.
The source used Muse. These are general chat tools, so results may differ.
Opens in a new tab. We don't see what you send.
These links are only a shortcut. We're not affiliated with OpenAI, Google or xAI, and your results may not match the source.
Optional stronger version
Our rewrite with extra checks. The poster didn't test it.
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: Find the cheapest available tickets for a show over the next few weeks, from the official box office. Fill in before running: - The show and venue: [SHOW] - Dates I could go and how many tickets: [DETAILS] - Most I'll pay per ticket, all-in: [BUDGET] Rules: - Check the official box office site first, then say if a reseller is cheaper and whether it's reputable. - Go through every performance in my dates and list those with seats, the cheapest price and where the seats are. - Give all-in prices, including service charges. - Hold nothing and buy nothing without my OK. - If a site asks me to sign in, pause and let me do it myself (including any CAPTCHA or two-step code); never guess or store passwords. - Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. - Tell me about rush, lottery or standing-room tickets if the show offers them. Output: A table of date, seat, all-in price and link, cheapest first. You'll know it worked when: I can buy the best-value seats in one step. Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.
Customize the stronger version
Answer these questions and we'll put your answers into the stronger version. The original prompt above stays exactly as published.
Your prompt
Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to. Goal: Find the cheapest available tickets for a show over the next few weeks, from the official box office. Fill in before running: - The show and venue: [SHOW] - Dates I could go and how many tickets: [DETAILS] - Most I'll pay per ticket, all-in: [BUDGET] Rules: - Check the official box office site first, then say if a reseller is cheaper and whether it's reputable. - Go through every performance in my dates and list those with seats, the cheapest price and where the seats are. - Give all-in prices, including service charges. - Hold nothing and buy nothing without my OK. - If a site asks me to sign in, pause and let me do it myself (including any CAPTCHA or two-step code); never guess or store passwords. - Ask for my OK before you pay, book, send, submit or cancel anything. - Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify. - Tell me about rush, lottery or standing-room tickets if the show offers them. Output: A table of date, seat, all-in price and link, cheapest first. You'll know it worked when: I can buy the best-value seats in one step. Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.
Scroll to see the whole prompt. Your answers show in green.
3 blanks are still empty: The show and venue; Dates I could go and how many tickets; Most I'll pay per ticket, all-in. They'll stay in brackets in your prompt, so the chat tool may ask you about them.
What you type stays in this browser tab. We don't send it or save it, and it's gone when you leave the page.
Source
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3243549/metas-muse-ai-assistant-was-born-to-shop.html
Related cases
- Find furniture on Facebook Marketplace for a new apartment with Meta's Muse, while Dots got the accounts locked (partial)Recreated promptEvidence: Article or interviewPartial
Scientific American's Mary Randolph was moving apartments and tested Meta's Muse (named Mark) and OpenAI's Dots (named Sam) for a week. Muse logged in to their Facebook account, searched Marketplace for couches, lamps and rugs, and could draft and send messages to sellers with their approval, managing the replies while they did other things. They now own a Muse-sourced dining table. When they gave Dots their Facebook login to do the same, Meta flagged it as a bot and temporarily locked their Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. Later, Muse pushed them seven times in three days to join Target's membership program and buy a lamp on sale.
Muse, ChatGPT Dots · Shopping · Source date:
- Compare prices for 60–70 garden plants across 5 sites with OpenAI OperatorRecreated promptEvidence: Screenshots or logs
Overnight, Operator cross-referenced a list of 60–70 plants across 5 sites into a price comparison table; the poster called it buggy but fun.
OpenAI Operator · Shopping · Source date:
- Compare contact lens prices across retailers from a prescription with Perplexity and save $150Recreated promptEvidence: Described by posterBeginner-friendly
Needing new contacts after an eye exam (the old lenses were discontinued), Dmitry Shamis found 1-800-CONTACTS expensive, so gave Perplexity the prescription and asked it to find prices. It checked 1-800-CONTACTS, Costco, Walmart and other sites and organized a comparison; Walmart was $150 cheaper for the same contacts, a retailer Shamis hadn't known sold them.
Perplexity · Shopping · Source date: